2023
.]] 2023 is the twenty-third year of the 21st century, and the twenty-third year of the third millennium. It occurs after the year 2022 and precedes the year 2024. The year 2023 plays great significance in the narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The majority of the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame takes place in 2023. This is established by a five-year time-jump from the events of Avengers: Infinity War, which climaxed with the decimation of one-half of the galaxy's population. Many heroes and their loved ones were wiped out of existence due to the power of Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. The year 2023 also comes into play in the ''X-Men'' film series. It is shown as part of an original future time-line that was reversed due to manipulation of events in the past. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the Sentinels hunt down mutants in a war that has also wiped out most of humanity and left only the worst of humanity left to rule the world. These Sentinels have been created using Mystique's DNA which gives them the ability to adapt to mutant powers and even use some. The surviving X-Men gather in a monastery in China for a last stand against the Sentinels while Shadowcat uses her powers to project Wolverine's consciousness back to 1973 to try to change the future where the Sentinels were created. In a final battle, all the X-Men fall to the Sentinels, unable to flee, but hold them back long enough that Wolverine's changes to the timeline erase the Sentinel future from existence. Marvel Cinematic Universe * Natasha Romanov continues to coordinate actions from Avengers Compound in upstate New York, but also tries to locate her missing ally, Clint Barton, who has gone rogue since the deaths of his family five years earlier. * Bruce Banner has since come to terms with his alter ego, the Hulk. He is now in a happy place and can maintain the physicality of the Hulk, but with Banner's intellect and personality. * Tony Stark and Pepper Potts continue to raise their daughter, Morgan, in an isolated cabin. Stark has kept himself free from world events. * Steve Rogers works as a grief counselor for survivors of the decimation. * Clint Barton continues to operate outside the law as a vigilante. He targets criminal survivors of the decimation in Mexico and Japan until he is eventually tracked down by Natasha. * Thor Odinson continues to suffer from PTSD. He has renounced his former ties with the superhero community, preferring to live amongst his own people on Earth in New Asgard. Most days, he spends his time drinking beer, getting fat and playing video games with Korg and Miek. * Scott Lang emerges from the Quantum Realm. Taken aback by everything that has happened, he seeks out his daughter, Cassie, who is now a teenager. * Scott Lang makes contact with Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov. He explains to them how his use of size-altering Pym Particles allows him the ability to enter the Quantum Realm. They reach out to Tony Stark, who comes up with a theory on how they might be able to travel through time and save those they have lost. * The re-formed surviving Avengers engage in an ambitious time-heist to acquire the Infinity Stones from different points in the past, so that they can use the combined power to reverse the effects of the Thanos snap. Nebula is compromised however by the Thanos of 2015, who uses her remaining Pym Particles to travel into the future (along with Gamora, who hails from a point in time prior to her original timeline counterpart's demise). Though fraught with mishaps, the Avengers' mission is a success. However, there is one casualty: Natasha Romanov. * The Thanos from 2015 arrives on Earth with his entourage, including the Black Order, and destroys Avengers Compound. The heroes use their Infinity Stones in a custom made Gauntlet, which Banner uses to bring the decimated heroes back to life. The returning heroes are assisted by the entirety of the warriors of Wakanda, as well as numerous sorcerers, as well as some of the space-borne Ravagers. * A final massive battle is waged between the assembled heroes and Thanos. Captain Marvel returns from space to lend a hand and destroys Thanos' ship. She engages Thanos directly in combat, but Thanos fells her with the Power Stone still in his possession. Thor, now boasting both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, gives Mjolnir to Captain America, who proves worthy enough to wield the weapon. Along with Iron Man, they fight against Thanos and get the Infinity Stones away from them. Tony Stark dons the Gauntlet and uses its power to destroy Thanos and his entire army. The power of the gauntlet proves too much however, and Stark expires moments later. * A small funeral service for Tony Stark is held at his cabin retreat. All of the Avengers are in attendance, as well as Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Harley Keener. * Thor Odinson crowns Valkyrie as the new ruler of New Asgard. He goes off to share in adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. X-Men film series * Advanced sentinel robots track down renegade mutants and remand them to a detainment camp at what used to be Central Park. * The members of the X-Men make their last stand in Moscow. Sunspot, Iceman, and Blink are among the casualties. Kitty Pryde and Bishop manage to escape along with Magneto, Professor Xavier and Storm. * The surviving X-Men retreat to China, where they engage in a plan to prevent this current dystopian environment from coming to pass. Kitty sends Wolverine back in time to the year 1973 to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask - the creator of the Sentinel program. The X-Files * In the "Squeeze" episode of The X-Files, there is a strange man named Eugene Victor Tooms, who consumes human livers and then goes into secluded hibernation where he rests for thirty year intervals. Investigating FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully postulated that unless they apprehended Tooms in 1993, then he would disappear and not awaken again until 2023. Character deaths